So, I went into a little spin yesterday and realised that I didn't actually have the kit I needed for the festival that I have coming up next week. I will usually take two bodies to a gig, one for a longer lens, one for a wider lens. I wonder though, is that just indulgent? I mean, It's not like I'm shooting for commissions, I shoot for myself / press sometimes / promoter sometimes and I think I could get the shots with one camera. So, anyway, I had this spaz off yesterday and tried to hire a 70-200mm f2.8 IS and a 17-40mm ...but then, upon chatting to many many hire companies I was horrified to learn that nobody had one in stock! - I tweeted a few times and a friend came to the rescue with the offer to loan his lens - thanks Kev. Well, I wandered home and @bigcrustyape popped in last night with his mum... He and I talked shoots, the women talked babies... I decided that I am taking two bodies, the Canon 30D and the Canon 5D Mk2 (My main squeeze) and, in that case, I will take the 10-22mm for the 30D and I will have the 70-200 for the 5D Mk2.... LONG and WIDE!
An example of a long shot at a concert might be something like this...

and.. an example of a wide shot may be something like this...

Now, the Canon 30D may not have a super ISO rating and anything over about 800 in the right light is starting to look pretty darn grainy, but during the day for big, sweeping festival crowd shots - I think it will be OK... It's amazing how "bad" something becomes when we get and use something "better" - What am I on about? Well, I used to shoot music stuff with the 30D 100% of the time, now I use it very infrequently because of how good the 5D Mk2 is, it makes me think the 30D is a sub standard camera, but, it's not. (My shaking hands don't help, but hey)

So, My kit list for the 2009 Benicassim festival will be as follows...